[quote="Slugger McBatt"
As for Brough, with hindsight, it was maybe the wrong decision. We could have made him stay, make him work for a decent contract for someone else, but remember how he played against Huddersfield in his next to last game, and how we won the Hull KR game with him off the field. Was his bottom lip coming out? Sometimes you've just got to make a decision, and I can understand why they made the decision at the time. What we lacked then was a game-changer, like we used to have Ellis, and then Solomona, and then Brough. But what I don't know anything about is the clubs financial position. Running Wakefield Trinity isn't just about putting a team on the pitch, it's also about keeping it solvent, and that must be like spinning plates.
Sometimes you've got to think financially..[/quote]
before i start, dont get me wrong i agree with your post on the whole, however, thinking financially....
would it not have been better to keep brough and have some direction around the pitch and not bother signing cooke. surely this would have enabled us to have competed more... play better rugby.... win a few more matches.... and keep the attendence fuigures higher, therefore earning the same amount of money as we gained from the sale.
on top of this you then have a chance of recruiting better players as you finished higher in the league.... also take into account the league position final standings money (i have no idea what this is.... but surely pro rata basis) which would help counteract the money gained from selling brough. and probably sell more season tickets for next year too....
i feel that if we sat down with brough and said to him 'look, you can leave at the end of the season, just play out this year and play for a better contract at a better club' then i feel we would have still won more games. think how well jeffries played alongside brough. even if brough played crap.... his goalkicking would still have been top quality as usual.
personaly, i think financially they would probably have equate to the same, i just feel it would have been a better season with brough which gives future benefits.